Freedom fighters demand a hike in pension, allowance

Suman Chakraborti & Debashis Konar

The Mamata Banerjee government may be claiming to provide adequate benefits to freedom fighters who took part in the struggle for Independence, but the freedom fighters are unhappy with the treatment meted out to them.

| TNN | Aug 19, 2013, 04.33 AM IST

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government may be claiming to provide adequate benefits to freedom fighters who took part in the struggle for Independence, but the freedom fighters are unhappy with the treatment meted out to them. Not only do they want a revision in the allowance but some are yet to get their dues from the state government.

A memorandum submitted to state finance minister Amit Mitra and letters to chief minister Mamata Banerjee regarding the revision of wages by the freedom fighters received no response.

The Mamata Banerjee government may be claiming of giving due importance to the freedom fighters who fought for the country's independence, but in reality, many of the freedom fighters are still fighting to get their dues.

Freedom fighters in Bengal receive a pension of Rs 16,575 every month from the Centre. Of Rs 16,575, the basic is which they want a revision as it is inadequate. Their basic is

Rs 6,330. Besides, the state government provides a monthly allowance of Rs 3,250.

But freedom fighters feel both the pension and the state allowance are inadequate. While they want the basic of Rs 6,330 - provided by the Centre - to be hiked to Rs 12,000, they also want the allowance of the state to be revised to Rs 7,000. which the freedom fighters too want a revision and enhance it to Rs 7,000 per month.

Mamata Banerjee government had announced that freedom fighters in the state will be given a monthly allowance of Rs 3,250 in effect from February this year. But many of them are still not receiving the revised amount.

In addition to their plight, some of the freedom fighters are yet to receive the allowance announced by the Mamata Banerjee government.

Gouranga Mitra, a nonagenarian freedom fighter who is the state secretary of All India Freedom Fighters Organization, said that the pension was insufficient considering the rise in the inflation rate. "The Centre revised our pension eight years ago. The monthly allowance that the state government is providing has been revised and increased to Rs 3,250. However, many of us are yet to get our dues owing to departmental problems," he said.

Compared to other states in the country, the allowance received by Bengal freedom fighters is far less, they complained. the freedom fighters of the state are getting much less monthly allowance compared to almost most of the other states in the country.

Another freedom fighter Shyamadas Sanyal said he needs to spend Rs 10,000 every month for two nurses who take care of him and his ailing wife. "We have to buy medicines and pay electric and telephone bills. This apart, there are food expenses.

The pension and monthly allowance we receive cannot meet these needs," he said.

Freedom fighters are a fast vanishing category and their number is decreasing every year, said freedom fighter Prof Jyotirmoy Roy. "So the state and the Centre should immediately increase our pension," he added.

"We had submitted a memorandum to state finance minister Amit Mitra in January this year, urging the state to give a monthly allowance of Rs 7,000 to both the freedom fighters and their widows. The widows get a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 at present. We also wrote to the chief minister several times, but did not get any reply. We are unwilling to meet the finance minister again because he gave us the cold shoulder," said Purnendu Prasad Bhattacharya, state president of the freedom fighters' organization.

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Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Robin K Dhowan and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha paid their tributes at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in the national capital on the occasion of Army Day.